


death is the mother of beauty.

by cl3rks



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Carnage - Freeform, F/M, death isn't reaper, ps she's female also, the GDOV tag doesnt really apply but the tags look bare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 18:54:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11319528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cl3rks/pseuds/cl3rks
Summary: "Not this time," She told him softly, her voice almost as quiet as the wind across the battlefield, watching him closely. "But in the future, sometime, I will meet you again.""Why did we meet now?""You needed someone to collect these tortured souls as you collect their names." Death looked across the bodies, knowing exactly what to say to ease Jack's swirling mind. "Beauty will be restored here... but perhaps the true beauty is in their bravery."





	death is the mother of beauty.

**Author's Note:**

> title from Sunday Morning by Wallace Stevens, stanza VI

There was so much carnage, so much suffering.

The once green area was now a dirty battlefield. Blood and gore everywhere, weapons scattered near limbs and soldiers who would be unidentifiable to others. 

There were flashes of it in 76’s mind, he was standing in the middle of it all. He’d just called in clean-up, but it was… painful. He knew these soldiers by name, he’d have to stare at each piece of them to help identify them. He knew their families, their sisters and brothers, their fathers and mothers. He, arguably, knew them better than he knew himself. 

The scenery beyond was so twisted, there were beautiful flowers and willow trees nearby, completely untouched by the chaos. But the smoke was everywhere, and not just on the battlefield. The yelling, screaming, and blood flying as men cried out prayers and battlecries stained their corpses and his mind. 

_They were brave,_ he told himself. _But even bravery has a price._

“Soldier?” He heard behind him, his hands loose around his gun. The blood on them caused his grip to slip, he turned slightly. His visor was cracked in several places. “You should rest.”

“Who are you?” 

“I think you know, Jack.” She said softly, stepping closer. She stepped over a few bodies as she made her way over to him. His fingers tensed against his gun, itching along the trigger. “You can’t kill me.”

“You remind me of Gabriel.”

The edge of her lips turned upwards. “He tells me the same – that I remind him of himself.”

“I didn’t know Death was a woman.” Jack said honestly, keeping his gun low.

She chuckled softly. “I’m whatever you’d like me to be.”

He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, surveying the landscape before he did speak. “If I rest, will you take me?”

"Not this time," She told him softly, her voice almost as quiet as the wind across the battlefield, watching him closely. "But in the future, sometime, I will meet you again."

"Why did we meet now?"

"You needed someone to collect these tortured souls as you collect their names." Death looked across the bodies, knowing exactly what to say to ease Jack's swirling mind. "Beauty will be restored here... but perhaps the true beauty is in their bravery."

He saw the distant lights of the clean-up crew, a sigh escaping his lips. Death stepped close to him, pressing one cold hand to his covered chest as the other traced the crack in his visor. 

“You can only fight for so long, soldier.” She whispered, tenderly kissing his forehead as his eyes looked down at her hand on his chest before watching her pull away. She then kissed either cheek and finally the place where his lips would be, lingering for a moment. “You’re marked, Jack, but I hope to not see you for some time.”

Just as the trucks pulled in, he turned his head to look at them before turning back to where Death had been. There was just black smoke lingering there, mixing with the white smoke of the battlefield. Jack clenched his jaw, looking down before shaking his head. 

One word echoed through his mind.

_“Rest.”_

**Author's Note:**

> this was spur of the moment idk what this is besides Odd
> 
> (and yeah yeah i know gabe is technically death in his own right but first of all, i like the idea of life and death and all that being women and motherly and loving and tender and UGH but ALSO like? loving in a romantic way not just a familial or platonic way yknow??)


End file.
